Artists Are Crafty
by mirage888
Summary: When Alex acts oddly lifeless and drawing-obsessed when she gets a new art teacher, it's up to Justin and Max to find out what's going on. Two-shot, better than it looks if you give it a chance!
1. Part I

_(A/N: The most people have voted for a story about WoWP in the poll on my profile, so here you all go! I apologize if you wanted a Jalex, but I will be doing more of that in the future. For now, please enjoy this wacky two-shot.)_

**Disclaimer: I do not own WoWP or any related characters.**

Alex Russo sat out on her balcony, sketching a beach scene. Drawing, and art, had been one of the few things she'd remained interested in over the years. Lately she'd been inspired by nature-y things, though she wouldn't let anyone know she was as soft as that.

_I wonder if I should add umbrellas, or keep it simple? _she wondered. Just as she decided to add one, though, the sliding door to the balcony was opened by her goody-goody know-it-all brother, Justin. There was no way she was letting _him_ see her drawing! Quickly flipping the sketch pad to the cover, she jeered at her brother.

"What're you doing out here, smartie pants? Come to find a pigeon girlfriend?"

"......whatever, Alex. I'm only out here to tell you that dinner is ready."

Justin turned around and left in a bit of a huff. The relationship between the two siblings occasionally had its moments, but most of the time it was very strained.

Rolling her eyes, Alex stowed her art supplies in a safe place and left in search of food. She could smell it; the food was calling to her far too empty stomach. Alex never could decide whether she liked eating or drawing better, but she was content knowing she'd never have to choose.

"Mo-om, what are we eating?" Alex called. She poked around the kitchen, until her mother appeared and slapped her hand away from the muffin she was trying to sneak.

"Alex honey, you'll thank me one day. You should know better than to eat senselessly, it'll catch up with you in a few years" Theresa lectured.

"But I'm _hungry" _whined her daughter.

"That's what dinner is for. Everyone else should be in to eat in a minute, so you might as well stay put at the table. You know how it is; one person gets up in search of the others, and suddenly it's half an hour before the whole family is in the same room again." Theresa shook her head. Family life was certainly something, especially in a family of wizards.

The next day at school, Alex met up with her friend Harper.

"Did you hear about the new art teacher?" Harper asked excitedly. Alex shook her head no. "Well, she's supposed to be really good, and I think she specializes in drawing!" Harper was always quick to encourage her friend to be involved in things that wouldn't get her into trouble. Art was basically the only thing that had worked so far, and even that had somehow managed to land Alex in a few sticky situations.

"Huh. I'll have to see if she's worth my time" Alex mused.

Her experience with art teachers hadn't gone so well in the past. The one teacher she'd liked had turned out to be a sixteen-year-old girl trapped in an adult body, and her current art teacher was Mr. _Laritate, _of all people! He might've been the school principal, but it didn't stop his weirdo obsession with all things wild west. He irritated Alex too much of the time for her to truly enjoy art class.

With a shrug, Alex stalked off to her history class, where she planned on napping in the back row. Just as she got comfortable, though.....

*_RIIIIINNNNG!_*

"Ugh, that stupid bell!" Alex groaned. "How am I supposed to get enough beauty sleep with that THING?" Grumbling, she had gathered her things and was halfway to her next class when she remembered. Art was next. Time to see what Harper had been raving about.

_Probably another dud _she thought grimly. That's why she wasn't surprised when, upon entering the room, she saw absolutely no color.

"Good morning, class" said a woman who looked remarkably like she should be a librarian. Her voice fit that description as well, because she spoke in a hushed tone that made her sound like she was in a hospital.

Alex rolled her eyes, prepared for some wacko lecture. She wasn't disappointed.

"My name is Ms. Featherly. Today we are going to be focusing on black and white drawings" murmured the teacher. She walked slowly around the room. "Each of you has an easel with paper, a kneaded eraser, charcoal pencils, H pencils, and B pencils. These are your materials. Learn them. Know them. They are all you will be working with to capture the true essence of your chosen subject."

Ms. Featherly droned on almost the entire class, lecturing them on "using the right side of the brain", and most _importantly, _getting into "the zone." Of course Alex couldn't help but snort when she heard that one. Ms. Featherly seemed to be obsessed with it, saying that you could only get into the zone by complete concentration with no distractions and no talking.

_Duh _Alex thought. Anyone with half a brain, right OR left side, had to know that in order to produce a decent drawing you had to focus. This whole "zone" thing was weirding her out, but not enough to keep her from being deeply amused by it. Maybe art class wouldn't be a total waste if she could at least get a new target for jokes and such out of it.

"Class. Class!" Ms. Featherly was saying. Everyone had gotten up to leave because the bell rang, but their new teacher was trying to get their attention. She waved her arms around. "Give me five everyone, give me five!"

The class stared blankly at her. What?

"Give me _five" _she said patiently. "It means, when I say that and hold up my hand, you all need to hold up one of your hands too, to show me you're listening. Now, everyone needs to remember to draw, draw, draw until our next class. If you don't, you will never improve. Remember! Get into the zone!"

Alex and her classmates left the room in a daze. They had never had a more eccentric teacher; not even Mr. Laritate could top this woman. Draw draw draw....she hadn't even instructed them as far as hands-on work goes! It was all a big mish-mash of hokey jumbo! _At least I already DO "draw draw draw" _thought Alex. Hmm... draw....draw....draw....

* * *

Alex had been acting weird for weeks, and, as much as he hated admitting it even to himself, Justin was worried for his little sister.

She'd lost her pleasure for pranking, her appetite, and her sarcasm. These were VERY BAD signs. Alex without those things was like the world without the sun. It didn't make sense, and Justin didn't like it one bit. Even the happiness he got from being left alone all the time was starting to wear off. Sighing to himself, he resolved to find out whatever it was that was making her act that way and put a stop to it.

Justin walked out on the balcony, where he knew Alex would be. She was always there these days, and always drawing. While she had stopped doing her other activities, drawing was one she kept up constantly. More so than ever before.

"Hey....Alex?" Justin asked his sister hesitantly. She didn't look up from her drawing.

"Alex, can't I just talk to you for a minute?" he pleaded.

She looked up, but not at him. "You must leave me alone. I must have no distractions. I need to get into the zone, and I must not speak or I will never improve." Once this had been said, she turned back to her drawing.

"What the heck is _wrong _with you these days?!" Justin exclaimed. "You don't want to do anything but draw, all the time! That's not normal, and especially not for you."

She finally looked at him. "Drawing is important. I must draw. Please leave me at once."

Justin was startled by the look in her eyes. They were very dazed, like she was in a trance. However, he figured it was best not to push Alex when she was in a weird mood, so he left to go back inside the apartment.

As he entered into the kitchen, Justin bumped into his dad.

"Hey...dad? Have you noticed that Alex has been all quiet and obsessed with drawing lately?" he asked.

Jerry thought about it a moment. "Come to think of it, she has been rather well-behaved lately" he mused. "But I bet it's just one of her phases, she'll be fine. It's nice that you're concerned about your sister, though" he said smilingly.

"I'm not _concerned" _said Justin unconvincingly. Before his dad could disagree, he ran to the lair.

_Well, while I'm here I might as well do some research _he though, once he got there. Maybe there would be something about obsessive drawing?

"Drawing....drawing.....'D'....hey, here's something" he muttered, thumbing through a book called _Methods of Hypnosis. _There was a small section that described an obsession with drawing, or any kind of art, as being one of the possible side affects of hypnosis. The article stated it could only happen if certain magical creatures hypnotized a person, and once the person was hypnotized they would become obsessed with their art until they'd become part of one of their own pieces.

The creatures that could hypnotize were mostly unfamiliar to Justin, except....

"An elf? I knew they could pretty much make you do whatever, but....hypnosis? That's kind of weird" said Justin. He thought about it.....Was it even possible that Ms. Featherly was an elf?! He wouldn't know from seeing her, because he wasn't in an art class. He'd had to drop it to make room for all his other more important classes.

_Maybe I'm being ridiculous and paranoid _he thought._ But at the very least, I can keep my eyes peeled for suspicious persons. _

* * *

That week at school, Justin did keep his eyes peeled. However, it did him absolutley no good; no matter where he looked, the art teacher was not to be seen. He was going to have to resort to his last option. He was going to have to take one of her classes.

Luckily, Justin had a free period he usually used for studying that was at the same time as one of the art classes. _It's against everything I've ever done to give up studying in favor of a subject I place little value in _he thought._ Oh well. Here goes nothing. _He strode into the classroom.

_No color at all? Am I in the right room?_ he thought. He had settled himself into a chair at the side of the room before he realized he'd walked right past the teacher. Hastily getting to his feet, he said "Please excuse me, I'm here to see if I'm interested in taking this class. I hope it's all right if I sit in today?"

The teacher gazed at him thoughtfully. "Yes, it is quite all right for you to be here. You may find you enjoy it. I am Ms. Featherly; what is your name, student?"

"J-Justin Russo" he stammered. She had such an odd voice! Like she was a fortune teller or something.

"Ah yes. I have your sister in one of my classes. She is....a joy." Ms. Featherly leered at him creepily. Justin squirmed a little where he stood. She seemed to notice this, if not the reason why, and said "You may resume your seat." He did as he was told.

As the other students filed in, Justin pondered the situation. _She doesn't seem like an elf....but that doesn't mean anything, they're pretty good at disguises. And her voice gives me the creeps. She could be using it to brainwash the kids._ Looking around, he thought, _wow! They all seem so out of it! Maybe I'm not used to being in classes that aren't AP, but I'm fairly sure normal kids don't act like zombies._

"Give me five, everyone" Ms. Featherly said. The students all raised five fingers in front of them, looking dazed. "Good. Is everyone ready to get into the zone?" "Yes, Ms. Featherly" said the class as one. _Ugh! They sound like robots!_ Justin thought.

Throughout the class, it was Justin's opinion that things never got any better than the beginning. It was dead quiet, and everyone worked silently on their black-and-white drawings. There wasn't much for Justin to do, as someone merely observing. Ms. Featherly had offered him a project to start, but he had politely declined, saying he preferred to watch since he would theoretically only be there one class. "We'll see about that" Ms. Featherly had said.

Later that day, Justin looked around the house to find Alex and confront her about the drawing thing. She was spending way too much time working on projects, and not enough time- well- living. She hadn't been this bad since Mason. There was one problem, though: Justin couldn't find Alex anywhere. He was about ready to give up when he went to check the last place, the lair.

"Alex, Alex are you in here?" he called. Then he spotted her sitting on the couch.

"Alex, I've been looking everywhere for you and I wanted-" he started. What stopped him was the sight of his sister. She looked half-dead, clumsily holding her pencil and shading in a drawing of a medieval castle. Her eyes were glassy, her clothing wrinkled, and her hair frizzy, but nothing disturbed Justin so much as her continuous chant of "Draw......draw......draw......"

"Alex!" Justin cried. "There is something seriously wrong going on here, and you HAVE to tell me what it is!"

She did not respond, just kept staring at her drawing like she wasn't aware of anything else in the world.

"Oh no, this is not good, no this is not good at all" Justin muttered. "DAD!" he yelled. There was no answer, so he ran out into the sandwich shop.

"DAD!" he yelled again, attracting odd glances from the customers. Still, there was no sign of Jerry, but after hearing his yells Theresa came running.

"Justin, _mijo,_ is everything all right?" she asked, concerned.

"Ah.....everything's fine, mom" Justin lied. He really did not want to get his mother upset over yet something ELSE magical. "But, uh, have you seen dad?" he tried to ask casually.

"Your father is out doing some grocery shopping at my request" his mother said suspicously.

"Oh....ok" said Justin, and he bolted off to the upstairs. "MAX!"

_(A/N: End part one!)_


	2. Part II

_(A/N: Thanks for the reviews, guys! Now-dun dun dun! Part 2.)_

"....and she just kept saying, 'draw draw draw'" Justin finished, watching his little brother's face.

Max looked thoughtful. "You know Justin, I think there's something wrong with Alex" he said.

Justin facepalmed. He supposed that it could have been worse, though, and Max could've missed the point completely. "Yes Max, I think so too. It's up to us to fix whatever it is, because dad's not here, and mom can't find out. Luckily I have an idea of what's going on."

"What's going on?" Max asked.

"Never mind that, just come to the lair with me. I need your help looking stuff up."

Max shrugged. Even he knew he didn't always get stuff. "Ok."

The boys made there way to the lair, where Alex was _still _in the state Justin had left her. Except....

"She looks even paler!" Justin exclaimed. "And....no way....is she _losing_ her _color? _We need to stop this from happening, fast! Max, go grab that book over there and look under 'hypnosis.'"

"That won't be necessary" came an eery voice.

Justin and Max whipped around. "Ms. Featherly?" said Justin, incredulous. "How did you get IN here?!"

"The portal" she replied in her hushed voice.

"Of course" Justin groaned. "So, was I right? Are you an elf? What have you done to my sister? Why are you so creepy? Why-"

"One question at a time" she said. "Yes, you were right, yes, I am an elf, yes, I've hypnotized your sister, and I'm creepy because I like it that way. Now, any more questions before I take care of you and your brother here as well?"

"Take care..." Justin was momentarily lost for words, so it surprised him a little when Max spoke up.

"I have a question" said the youngest Russo. "How did you hypnotize her?"

Justin stared at Max. His question made sense, and it was relevant! A miracle!

"It was easy" said Ms. Featherly. "I always use the power of my elvish persuasiveness mixed with my voice techniques. It's not just her, either, oh no!" She gave a harsh laugh. "I have nearly half the school under my power now."

"You sick woman" said Justin. "You're not getting away with this."

"And who's to stop me?" she asked lightly. "Your sister is almost done anyway; look at her."

He did. The little color of her drab outfit was gone, there was no blush to her cheeks, and even her hair seemed blacker. Her eyes were black instead of brown, her lips were gray and her skin was completely white. She looked like she had stepped out of an old black-and-white movie. Slowly, as they watched her, she appeared to begin to fade.

"What's happening to her?" asked Justin, panicked.

"She is entering her very own drawing" said the elf softly.

Justin began shouting all the spells he knew. It did nothing, and Alex was almost gone. He turned to the mad teacher.

"Why are you DOING this? Isn't there any way for me to stop it?! What do you DO with the kids once they're trapped?! Are ALL the students going to dissappear eventually?"

"There you go with too many questions again. If you had taken my class, you would have known the power of _silence._"

"What I know about silence is that too much of it is not always a good thing" said Justin furiously. "Now answer my questions, right away!"

"I do this because art is my passion. Talent is too often wasted on those who do not pursue artistic careers, so I take them for myself. They live in their own drawings, where they produce me more art. I have many, many little artists now...and I will have many more once the children from school succumb."

Just then, Max shouted "Alex!" Everyone looked at her....or rather, where she had just been. With a flash of white light, she had gone entirely. Her drawing fell to the floor, only now there was a small girl standing in the drawing in front of the castle.

"YOU CRAZY, INSANE, #&*()*U*$^ &Q##$$%^*#^&*~!!!!!" said Justin. He lunged for the elf-woman who stood there so innocently.

"Away from me, boy, or I will force you into the zone!" she screeched (as much of a screech as she could do).

Before Justin could do anything, though, there was another flash of light and three men came out of the portal.

"Professor Crumbs!" gasped Justin.

"Ms. Featherly, you are under arrest for hypnotizing and enslaving countless numbers of young people" said the Professor. "Stephan, Harris, take her away." The two men he was with obliged happily, and there was another flash of light as they departed.

"Professor?" said Justin, confused. "I thought you were....a professor. How can you arrest her?"

"A professor is not all I am" said Crumbs mysteriously. "But that is neither here nor there. Right now, you must save your sister. You need to go into her drawing, rescue her from the enchantments, and everyone who has been enslaved by Featherly will be freed. Go on!" He shooed them toward the waiting picture.

"Um.....Literrarium Terrarium" said Justin, and he and Max were transported into the castle drawing.

"Whoa....Alex really is a good artist" Max observed. Though the world was black and white and gray, it had amazingly realistic details. The boys wandered around the castle gate; it seemed that no one else was around except for them and presumably Alex.

Max nudged Justin. "I wonder if there's a dragon anywhere!" he said excitedly.

Justin gave him a Look. "Max, we've already had the, uh, 'pleasure' of being in Alex's diary. This medeival stuff is getting old, she should draw nature or something."

"Hey, as long as I get to go in it, I'm cool" said Max seriously, causing Justin to facepalm again.

"Let's go this way" the older boy said reluctantly. They marched through the open gate, and, once inside, up a flight of stone steps. At the top of the steps was a hallway, and there was a white light coming from one of the rooms.

"She has to be in there" Justin said. The two slowly made their way to the door, and carefully pushed it open.

"Gah!" said Max.

"Shu up, it's just Alex!" said his brother.

And it was Alex, looking just as brainwashed as she had at home.

"Alex.....Alex....."Justin tried. He got no response. _Think.....think....what brings people out of hypnosis? Well, there is....but it couldn't be that! Way too easy. Still.... _Justin faced his sister.

"Alexandra Russo. On the count of three, I'm going to snap my fingers, and you will wake up. Ready? One, two, three!" *snap*

Alex jumped about a mile out of her window seat. "JUSTIN! What are you doing here? Why are you snapping your fingers? Do you think it makes you look cool? Because it doesn't."

_And I missed that? _thought Justin wryly. Out loud, he said, "Max and I are here to rescue you, so if you don't mind, at least refrain from insulting me until we get out of here."

"Fair enough" Alex replied.

The three siblings made their way out of the castle, and magicked themselves back home to the lair.

"Whew!" said Alex as they came out of the picture. "I never want to see that drawing again! And she was going to force me to make more. I'm so totally over the dark ages, but _she_ isn't." Alex made a "blech" face.

"Do you think when I freed you, the other kids got out ok?" Justin asked anxiously.

"Meh, who cares? More food in the cafeteria for us" Alex said. Seeing the look on Justin's face, though, she said hastily, "Only kidding! I'm sure they're fine, and anyway we'll find out by school tomorrow when either everyone is there or most of the school is missing."

"What was it like, being hypnotized?" Justin asked.

"I don't remember one stinkin' thing, except constantly drawing" said his sister. "I think I'm going to take up painting again. I cannot handle any more black and white."

"Ok, but do me a favor" Justin said.

"What?" asked Alex suspiciously.

"Paint some nature scenes. All the dark castles and dungeons and stuff really needs to stop."

"Can do" said Alex, surprisingly happy and not even taking the chance to call him a tree-hugging sap. It seemed that, for the time being at least, everything was cool between brother and sister.

**The end.**

_(A/N: I hope y'all enjoyed it! I know it was weird. But...heh....Ms. Featherly was based off my very own drawing teacher. She's no evil hypnotizing elf, but she really does say almost everything Ms. Featherly was saying in the first class Alex took. lol. Until we meet again, faithful readers!)_


End file.
